"It was surprising": Scott admits to being 'blindsided' by Bombers axing

Former Essendon coach Brad Scott has broken his silence after being sacked by the Bombers.

After three and a half seasons in charge at the Hangar, the club has decided to part ways with the former North Melbourne coach with club President Andrew Welsh believing they need a fresh voice.

During his tenure, Scott managed to win 29 of his 80 games. But in the last 365 days, Scott was only able to win one.

Speaking for the first time since his sacking on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters, the 50-year-old admitted that he was somewhat blindsided by the decision.

"I suppose I was, yeah," Scott said.

"We're going through a difficult period, clearly. But it hasn't felt any different to other weeks.

"I've been really well supported over a long period of time with the plan that we put in place.

"As I mentioned a couple of times, all the key people were part of that plan and building that plan.

"So it felt like business as usual to me that we'd clearly articulated the risks going into this season and the difficulties we may face, but we believe in the plan.

"I still believe in the plan, you know, and I'm committed to seeing it through and committed to the playing group and to all the players we recontracted as part of that plan.

"I've been in this industry for a long time. It's not surprising because pressure does strange things."

Whilst the Bombers now find themselves at the bottom of the ladder, it wasn't all negative during his tenure.

During Scott's first season in charge of the side, the Bombers found success early on, with the club residing in the top four throughout parts of the first half of the season before falling out of the top eight altogether.

But as he explained, he knew the club needed to make significant changes to its culture, noting that they had initially exceeded their true ladder position.

"I accepted this challenge at Essendon because it was such a challenge," he added.

"I knew it was going to be a really hard job. That was part of the appeal, you know, feel a bit sadistic saying that, but that was the appeal.

"I was really energised about the opportunity to try and turn around a great club that had been starved of success for a long time.

"But when, after about Round 16 or 17 (in 2023), when we were top four on the ladder, and I knew we weren't a top four side, we had a lot of work to do.

"And at the end of 2023, I was really concerned on a number of fronts that we needed to make significant cultural change, and we needed to make significant change.

"And when we embarked on that strategy, I thought, 'Gee, these supporters are going to hate me'.

"They're going to hate me because it's going to be hard and we're vulnerable, and we may lose games.

"But I wanted to embark on a strategy that Essendon hasn't embarked on this century."

Essendon has named Dean Solomon as its interim coach for the remainder of the season.

His first game in charge will be against the West Coast Eagles on Sunday at Optus Stadium. The match begins at 7:20pm AEST (5:20pm local time).